Engineer blames
Boon and ICC

Manchester: The Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) might have pressed for a harsh punishment against James Anderson, but former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer said the England pacer did not deserve a four-match ban for his spat with Ravindra Jadeja and suggested that he would have sorted out the issue in minutes.

“It’s a narrow corridor in the dressing rooms there. Mahendra Singh Dhoni says he saw Jimmy push Jadeja and if that’s the case, Jimmy’s been a bit naughty. But it certainly doesn’t merit a four-match suspension,” Engineer was quoted as saying by a British newspaper.

Speaking further, he said: “It’s ridiculous that it has dragged on for so long. I blame the match referee (David Boon) and the ICC. If I’d been the match referee — and I used to be one — I would have had Jimmy and Jadeja into my room there and then asked them to sort it out. And if Jimmy was at fault, I’d have asked him to apologise.

“If he refused, then it could have been an issue. But it should have all been sorted out in five minutes,” he said.

“I must stress that I don’t know what happened in that corridor at Trent Bridge,” he added.

“I really can’t believe the Indians would have wanted Jimmy to be banned because as an Indian who still wants India to win, even in Lancashire, I wouldn’t regard it as a proper win unless they beat the full-strength England team,” he opined.